While payroll is the foundation of employee management, there’s a lot more to managing people than paying them correctly. Using the right tools can help you automate these tasks, so you have more time to focus on your people and less time worrying about processes and paperwork. Here are some of the most common tasks that you can manage using tools in the Xero platform.
Approve leave and timesheets
Small businesses with fast-growing teams often find that even with software like Xero Payroll, it can be difficult to keep timesheets and leave up to date. This is particularly important during COVID-19, when access to most forms of government assistance require accurate payroll records. If you find yourself chasing teams for information or scrolling through emails for approvals, you might like to try Xero Me.
Xero Me is an app for employees of small businesses using Xero Payroll. It syncs to Xero Payroll in real time, so you save time on payroll admin. It also gives employees secure access to their information on the go, from payslips and timesheets to pay dates and leave balances. They can submit new timesheets, apply for time off and get notified when their manager has approved their request.
“I recommend including Xero Me as part of your employee onboarding process. That way, your payroll data is accurate right from the start, and you don’t have to retrain employees in a new process later on.” – Sam Payton, Xero Product Owner
Track and invoice time on projects
If you manage a team of contractors or employees, you’ll probably be familiar with the impact of scope creep. Not to mention teams who forget to complete timesheets and record job costs as they work. But tracking the time spent on each project and its associated costs is really the only way to understand which jobs are most profitable, and whether you’re quoting and invoicing the client accurately.
Xero Projects makes this easy. Instead of manual timesheets, there’s a start-stop timer and GPS tracking to help employees track their time on the go. You can also track costs as they happen and assign them to a job. With everything in the one place, it’s easy to create quotes based on time and expenses, send timesheets to Xero Payroll, and get a real-time view of profitability on each job.
“The profitability dashboard is a great way to see how you’re spending your time and money during the project, so you can spot any problems before they impact your profit or push timelines out.” – Michael Benner, Xero Product Manager
If you have a larger business or more complex needs, you can also use WorkflowMax to help your employees track their time on the go.
Manage employee expense claims
For many businesses, reimbursing employees for work expenses is a manual and time-consuming process. Claims are inaccurate and submitted late, approvals are hard to track, and admins lose track on which expenses need to be reimbursed or not. This can make it hard to reimburse your employees quickly and manage your cash flow.
If this is a challenge for you, you’ll love Xero Expenses. Your employees can take a photo of the receipt or upload a file using the mobile app and submit the claim in one click. They can also accurately track and submit mileage claims on the go. You can approve the claim in one click and easily reconcile it in Xero, with alerts to help to monitor employee spending in real-time.
“It’s perfect for business owners who are out and about during the day, or have a team working remotely. You can manage expenses on the go, rather than coming back to a pile of paperwork.” – Eddie Chae, Xero Product Owner
Make better scheduling decisions
We recently celebrated a huge milestone, reaching 1,000 connected apps in our ecosystem. The beauty of our platform is that you can build a toolkit of apps to suit your needs, and feel confident that they’ll seamlessly integrate with your Xero account. For example, apps like Planday and Deputy can deliver a real-time picture of labour costs, so you can adjust staffing levels as your trading conditions fluctuate.
Your employees can quickly enter their availability, swap shifts and record hours, to help you track their time and make sure they get paid correctly. Xero Payroll then automatically updates wages to reflect any schedule changes, while ensuring you stay compliant with any location or industry-specific regulations. You can even use these apps to manage employee communication – it’s a real time saver.
Take care of your people with Xero
Of course, getting payroll right is an essential first step. We offer Xero Payroll in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and Gusto is our preferred payroll partner in the US. These solutions automatically calculate employee pay, tax rates and leave entitlements, so you can pay your employees accurately and file your payroll data to the tax agency on time.
Using the right employee management tools not only makes you and your advisor’s life easier, but it also ensures you’re taking care of the most important part of your business: your people.
Share this article
